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Including History, Commerce, Accidents, 
Incidents, Guide, Etc. 



BY 

D. Byron Waite. 



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CANADICE, N. Y. 

G. E. COLVIN & G. P. WAITE, PRINTERS. 

1883. 



Copyright, ?SS3, by f). S. Waile. 



PREFACE, 

Tins little work is intended to comprise in a 
cheap and convenient form all ihi* pleasure and 
health-seeking public may wish to know eone 
ing Hemlock Lake. 

Most of those who have once paid it a visit re- 
gard it as a most enjoyable spot, and main sa) 
that the heart ever yearns for a revisitation, and 
that it is one of the places in man's wildwood 
rambles where he esteems it a luxury to stay. 

A lake like this, situated in the very heart of a 
long settled and highly cultivated portion of the 
Empire State, surrounded by hills of almost 
primitive wildness ; " Slumbering still in the 
midst of Nature's wild luxuriance,"where the rip- 
ple of the tiny wave at your feet, the melody of 
the feathered warblers and the thousand and one 
rarer forest voices, all tuned to harmony, having 
still their own peculiar charm, and all singing 
their own native songs, from the freshness of 



J PEEFACE. 

the morning till long after the sun has gone be- 
hind the western hill and the gray twilight has 
settled on all things, without being disturbed 
more by the woodman's ax or the plowshare of 
the agriculturist, is indeed one of the rarities of 
our country. 

There is no lake in' Western New York that 
has greater demands for our consideration, or is 
faster gaining notoriety as a summer resort than 
this. Its cool, refreshing air; its pure waters; its 
lovely- scenes; its beautiful points and pictur- 
esque nooks, and these old hills, all unite in one 
inviting, persuasive voice for man to occasionally 
step away from the tiresome routine of life and 
enjoy more of Nature in her pristine beauty and 
healthfnlne 

The Hemlock has never been made classic 
ground. Her ''Delphian cliffs and Etrurian 
1 1 s r i 1 1 tv( i n ever been immortalized. No sight- 
less Homer or Milton has ever sung its beauties, 
but in one respect, if in no other, does it possess 
more Hum the "wealth of Ormus or of Ind" — it 
is the summer home of untold thousands , and can 
truthfully and emphatically be called " Health's 



PREFACE. 3 

cheerful haunt." 

A portion of the following pages were written 
by us a few years since for the "Way land Press," 
and had a limited circulation, and after having 
been rewritten , we trust it will not be amiss to 
include it here. Our first thought was to give 
cuts of the several Cottages along the lake, but 
the limited sale it must necessarily have, would 
not warrant the expense incident thereto. 

We herein acknowledge our indebtedness to 
nearly all the owners of sites along its shores, and 
to others for valuable suggestions and information 
of a historical nature. Many faults, 110 doubt, 
can be found in the work, should they be looked 
for. The sketches may lack artistic finish, but 
we have endeavored to have them possess the mer- 
it of correct outline. 

We do not challenge criticism in the least, nor 
do we make any special pretension to lite 
merit whatever, our greatest aim has been to 
gather up the fragments by piecemeal end pic- 
servethem in a shape so that the future historian 
of our ideal of a lake, can have something of a 
base on wine 1 } to bulk], if he wishes, a nobter 



PREI 



superstructure, than he could, had we never 
made the attempt, 

THE AUTHOR 
Hermitage, May, 1883. 



DESCRIPTION. 

Mt lias been said and truly too that this lake 
is the "most attractive of all the beautiful 
chain of lakes which adorn Western and Central 
New York." It lies some twenty eight miles a lit- 
tle to the east of south of the city of Rochester, 
and almost wholly between the towns of Canadice 
in Ontario county, and Conesus in Livingston, 
and situated in a retired rural district in a deep 
and narrow valley, the two spurs Marrowback 
and Ball Hill reaching far north of the greei 
Appalachian chain, clasp this gem of waters be* 
fcween their giant arms. Its length as given by 
Engineer Tubbs is six and seven tenths miles: its 
average width: six tenths of a mile; its water sur* 
e 1,823 acresi a d rainage surface of 27,5 5 \ 
s: and a i awrage daily discharge of 20,000, 
000 gallons of water. Its elevation above the 
aaal at ; ter is 338 feet, and some 

882 feet above tide, and except immediately at 
the head and fo lepth ranges from 40 to 

V)i) feet throughout its length. lis greatest depth 
is said to be i)2 feet 



() . DESCRIPTION. 

Tli ere is but one main inlet, and that conies 
down the Hemlock Valley west o£jthe ? village^of 
Spring water, receiving numerous small streams 
from the high lands on either side. The amount 
of water brought into the lake by this stream is 
so small compared with that discharged by the 
outlet that but one conclusion can be formed, and 
that is ; the lake is "an immense mountain spring". 
As it has its bed in the shales formation, and its' 
shores lined with the same, the water coming 
from this immense fountain must, of necessity, 
be soft, softer in fact, says Prof. Lattimore, than 
any other water supply on this continent, and 
excelled or equalled in Europe in purity, except, 
only by a very few of the lakes of Scotland and 
Wales. This, in a great measure, induced the 
city of Rochester to take its waters thereto for 
drinking and domestic purposes. 

The Legislature of this state April 16, 1852, 
passed an act incorporating the first Water 
Works Company of the city of Rochester. Cer- 
tain residents of the city were named in the act, 
with others, with a capital stock of 200,000 
dollars, to be taken in shares of $25 each, with 



DESCRIPTION. i 

power to take water from any spring, lake, pond 
or river to the city. This is called the old Com- 
pany. April 16, 18(58, all contracts entered into, 
and officers elected under the previous act were 
legalized and confirmed. The contract to take 
water from this lake to the city was let to East- 
man, passed into the hands of Utley, thence to 
Ayers of pill notoriety, and the second outlet 
was dug, pipes were laid, and considerable other 
work was done on a portion of the route, but 
the Legislature April 16, 1872 passed another 
Act to supply said City with pure and whole- 
some water. 

Five Commissioners were appointed by the 
Mayor thereof who selected J. N. Tubbs as En- 
gineer, and. Prof. Lattimore as Analyzer, with 
instructions to examine the waters of Genesee 
River and Lakes Ontario and Hemlock, and in 
the fall of that year their reports were made with 
the positive conclusion that for greater economy 
in operating expense, permanency in construction 
of works , greater purity and softness of water 
and its steady and abundant supply, the last na- 
med body of water should furnish to said city the 



<S DESCRIPTION. 

much and long needed supply; also an act was 
passed by the Legislature June 3. 1873, giving 
power to said Commissioners as agents for said 
city " to raise the surface of the water, in said 
lake, not to exceed two feet, and to draw down 
the said water below low-water mark, not to ex- 
ceed, eight feet: also the right to take such meas- 
ures and make such constructions as shall be nec- 
essary to secure said waters for the purpose in- 
tended, and to protect the same from improper 
< )bstructions or pollution. After an outlay of 
some §3,000,000, the water was let into the 
pipe in Dec.> 1875. 



IIBT011Y 



/ < 



E cannot with the antiquary wander 
liStl back to the time, that remote period 
when this whole region was swept over by an 
engulphing wave that tore from the bosom of 
mother earth this tray-shaped basin, and left 
these grand old hills, which long ages since be- 
came clad in Nature's primeval garb, but we 
have endeavored to gather from along the path- 
way of time some crude memorials in this lake's 
history, which are fast passing away- soon to be 
numbered with the oblivious past, and to rescue 
them from the "effacing finger of time" will be 
our present aim. When w r e go to the buried 
past for items, w r e find the records dim, and 
all tradition vague and uncertain, but when w r e 
lake a retrospective glance at the last decade in 
regard to tins lake, we are obliged to say that 
its progress is onward, and the end not even the 
most sanguine can divine. The wildest day- 
dreamer may wake on the morrow and find his 
schemes, air-castles and anticipations in a fair 



10 HISTOKT. 

tain for speedy realization, and otters more 
vast, gigantic and unthought of treading rapidly 
on their heels. Every day brings new comers 
and every boat comes swarming with new pleas- 
ure-seekers from all parts of our common coun- 
try to mingle with those now here, to be a part 
and parcel of us. 

Whoever has passed along the shores or over 
the surface of this body of water, could not fail 
to be favorably and permanently impressed with 
its numerous indentations or coves; its beautiful 
wooded points or capes ; its bold shores ; its clean 
and gravelly beach ; its cool, transparent water ; 
its bracing, exhilarating atmosphere, and more 
than all, its apparent self-knowledge of its own 
ease, beauty and picturesqueness, lying in its 
own basin, scooped by the hand of God and sur- 
rounded by hill sides clothed in the primitive 
garb of nature, seemingly more fresh and more 
verdant by having this gem of waters to lave 
their base and reflect their towering and protect- 
ing forms. 

With all the ever inexaustible supply of fish 
which man in a state of nature must at times 



HISTOHY. 1 1 

almost wholly rely on for food, which this lake 
has been able to give , and a thousand other in- 
ducements , it does seem that it should have a 
history that might well be called ancient, but 
when and where the human eye first caught a 
glimpse of it, it will be very hard to determine. 
Whether it had an existence long before the 
planting of the; forbidden tree in Eden, or a date 
"anterior to the fall of Lucifer," or was partially 
stocked with bull-heads and suckers when God 
said: "Let the waters bring forth abundantly, " 
we know not. 

» This continent ma}' have been an old one when 
Eden was first brought to light, as many men 
of science now agree, and if Adam's early educa- 
tion was not neglected, he might have made th.Q 
tour of America and taken in the Hemlock on 
his way. This may be visionary, but who knows 
to the contrary? When the waters "assuaged" in 
the days of those old mariners, Noah or Deuca- 
lion, or ages long since (as some say) this, on ac- 
count of its purity, might have been kept here 
for the very purpose for which it is now appro 
pri:V;j:l. 



1 2 HISTORY. 

Laying aside all theory and speculation, and 
taking the best evidence we have,- and that is 
tradition,- of the early occupation of the hills 
around us, we are prone to believe that Munsee 
maids were the Nereides of the lake, long before 
the discovery of America by Columbus, or the 
formation of the Iroquois League in 1450. In 
all probability, and we have tradition as the 
base, the Munsees were wholly exterminated at 
the death of the captive maiden On-no-lee by 
the Mengwees, and they in turn by the Senecas, 
previous to the League aforesaid. 

Before the occupancy of this region by the, 
Senecas we are unable to ascertain its name, but 
it then became known in the Seneca tongue as 
the " O-neh-da Te-car-ne-o-di ", or in our lan- 
guage Hemlock lake — the latter word meaning 
lake. It was probably so named from the hem- 
lock forest,lying along its western shore. 

The story of the captive , Onnolee , is one of 
the numerous legends handed down to us from a 
very remote period, of the people who once liv- 
ed, hunted, fished, and died in this locality. 
Any nation, unschooled in the art of preserv- 



HISTORY. i ?> 

ing records by a written language., its history 
must, of necessity, be vague and legendary, and 
these legendary remains were very often rude 
carvings or pictures on the war-post, if they were 
reniiniscenses of glorious achievements on the 
battlefield. 

We have seen the trunks of trees and the wig- 
warns of the wild Indian, where in his hiero- 
glyphical way, many a story or point in history 
is imperfectly transmitted to later generations. 

The legend of the last survivor of the MunseS 
nation, and hence of its total extermination, has 
been beautifully rendered in rhyme by the la- 
mented scholar and poet, W. H. C. Ilosmer. The 
story is, that sometime during the fourteenth 
century, probably between 1350 and 1375 the 
Munsees, a small and friendly tribe of Indians, 
dwelt on Ball Hill, their village being situated 
somewhere on the west shore of Canadice Lake 
while the surrounding country was occupied by 
the Mengvvees, a restless, warlike tribe. 

The Munsees had so long lived in peace with 
other tribes that they little dreamed their small 
band was in danger. No ominous ghost, or ser- 



14 III3T0KY. 

pentf s rattle had brought tliem warning that the 
fj.ll of their* nation was at hand, but at the sol- 
emn hour of midnight, when sleep and stillness 
brooded around their homes, the Mengwees, with 
one fell swoop, bathed their tomahawks in the 
innocent blood of their quiet, unwarned and de- 
fenceless neighbors. The onslaught was complete^ 
for nothing was left of people or wigwams, save 
Onnolee, by some called a maiden, by others the 
cherished wife of the bravest chief of the nation. 
She was taken, bound to the red belt of a famous 
leader, called Mickinac , and compelled to fol- 
low him, but at noon they rested for dinner be- 
neath the branches of a spreading oak. 

While he was partaking of his parched corn 
and smoke-dried venison, she cast into the dust 
that offered her, and with eagle eye and stealth - 
iness of hand saw and grasped from his belt, and 
with one mighty thrust buried his belt-knife 
deep into the side of her captor. Her aim was 
perfect and the act effective. 

She knew her life was forfeited, but having 
the fleetness and agility of a deer, she fled 
while arrows went whizzing by her in all di- 



msTOBY. 1 5 

rections. She gained at last a crag that beetled 
over some lake, either the Canadice.or Hemlock ; 
Hosmer thinks the former, but as there were no 
overhanging cliffs on the shores of that lake, 
the presumption is, it must have been the Hem- 
lock. 

"Regardless of the whizzing siorm 
Of missiles raining round her form, 
Imploring eye she then upcast, 
And a low, mournful death hymn Bang; 
On hill and forest looked her last, 
One glance upon the water cast, 
And from that high rock sprang. 1 ' 

It is said, for more than three hundred years 
afterwards, that "oft in the stilly night" of sum- 
mer, as moonbeams stole glances to kiss the tiny 
wavelets of the lake, the sain* ed form of the once 
beautiful Onnolee could be seen to rise from its 
watery home, and either vanish in upper air or 
return again to the bosom of the deep. 

Of the Iroquois, of which the Senecas were a 
part, it is only necessary to say that they were 
able, at one time, to sound their war whoop from 
the "dark pine forests of Maine to the bar- 



lf> HISTORY, 

ren shor?s of the Superior, and the southern 
fastnesses of 'he Tallapoosa ." When and where 
they commenced the work of retaliation, ratine 
presented no harrier to a successful campaign ; 
they had a daring will and a hand to execute, 

A more splendid race of savages than the Sen- 
ecas perhaps never manned a war earoe or drew 
a how, and though sometimes driven back by a 
superior force, yet they were never beaten. 

It is said that when the marauding Sullivan 
came through the country of the Senecas thev 
retired, but bent the top of a hickory down and 
wi tlied it around the body to show that they 
were bent, but not broken. No savage nation 
ever had better warriors, better orators, or bet- 
ter statesmen. 

Though the habits of the native denizen of the 
forests were migratory , yet how strong and deep- 
fj.eated were his attachments for home. He lov- 
ed his hunting and fishing grounds, but, more 
than all, he loved the graves of his fathers, and 
desired that his bones might mingle with theirs, 
as strenuously as did the old Hebrew Patriarch, 
that his might be carried back to Canaan. 



HISTOliY. 1 7 

The heart-broken son of the wilderness, in 
his last melancholy march towards the reclining 
sun, paused and took a farewell look at the hunt- 
ing grounds of his race and the graves of his an- 
cestors ; but these are no more his to look upon, 
nor will the guardian Manitou watch over the 
young warrior and his dusky maiden in their 
moonlight wooings on the beautiful Hemlock, 
and the plowshare of the pale-face has oblitera- 
ted all traces of the graves of his kindred. 

The first white men among the Senecas that 
we have any account of, were the Franciscan 
Father, LeCaron, in 1616, and Dailion in 1626, 
who was a Recollet missionary, and as the Hem- 
lock was one of the great fishing grounds of the 
Seneca nation, and as vast numbers encamped 
around the lakes in the fishing season , it is not 
improbable that they erected the cross ( the em- 
blem of salvation ) on its shores as early as the 
first date. 

We can, as we look back to the earliest advent 
of the white race into the Indian country, but 
mark the strong contrast between the Spanish, 
English and French. The first came for gold, 



1 8 HISTORY. 

the second for territory, but the French, of both 
the Jesuit and Catholic orders, were men of 
faith and love. Whether they taught truth or 
falsehood ; whether on the whole it had been 
better or worse for the cause of Christianity had 
they never been here > is foreign to our purpose. 

It is enough for us to know that they were tru- 
ly devoted to the cause of bettering the condition 
of the savage. " They went even where the 
sword of the conqueror could not cleave his way 

They built churches in the wilderness which 
were time-worn ail ci-anbliig when the first 
emigrant penetrated the forests. They preached 
to savages who never saw the face of another 
white man though they lived to three score and 
ten. They prayed upon the banks of lonely 
lakes and rivers which were not mapped by ge- 
ographers for over a century after their deaths ." 

They took the wondering native by the hand, 
received him as a brother and won him over to 
listen patiently. They travelled unarmed and 
alone where an army could not march, and their 
affection and devotion to their mother church 
were never forgotten, and their latest prayer was 



HISTORY. 1 9 

for the salvation of the simple native. 

Passing along over the establishment of t\\e 
first regular permanent missions in Western New 
York in 1656 at East Avon, Bloomfield, West 
Men don and Victor, down to the treaty of 1763, 
which forbade the introduction of more re- 
cruits of the Jesuit order, and we arrive at the 
time when the English came into possession of 
this locality. At this time a few Indian traders 
lived where Geneva now stands. 

Jemima Wilkinson and a few Friends on the 
west bank of Seneca lake, and two or three tra- 
ders on Genesee river, and Ave have all the pale- 
faces in what was then called the u Gei:esev 
Country". 

About 1765 the Rev. Samuel Kirklarid came- 
as the first Protestant missionary among the: 
Senecas. The earliest maps of the province of N. 
Y. viz : 1616, US & '31 are wholly silent in re- 
gard to Western New York, but in a map dated 
1768 the earliest one extant, giving anything 
like a correct view of any part of this region 
defining the boundaries according to the treaty 
of Fort Stanwix, we find no lakes laid down 



2d HISTORY. 

west of the Seneca. 

In 1771 Guy Johnson, who was then deputy 
agent of Indian affairs, drew and inscribed to 
Governor Tiyon u a map of the Countries of the 
Six Nations" and Canandaigua lake and the 
smallei lakes in this vicinity were not down, 
but they were known to exist, for he says "there 
are other lakes hereabouts but they cannot be 
laid down with certainty". 

In 1779 General Sullivan with his army pass- 
ed through Richmond and Livonia, touching the 
Hemlock near the residence of Printiee Chesbro 
thence north around the foot of the lake and on 
towards the head of the Conesus, after destroy- 
ing large quantities of beans and corn on the 
planting grounds of the Senecas at the foot of 
the lake. 

Sullivan's forces were composed partly of young 
stalwart men from the sterile soil of the mount- 
ains and hill-sides of New England. 

The contrast, the change from the rugged sce- 
nery of the far eastern home to the beautiful 
landscapes, fine rolling up lands, fertile vales, 
and lovely lakes of this western Canaan, must 



HISTORY. ?1 

have been with £hem in dream-land, as well ap, 
in their wakeful hours, long after their return o 
their native land. Many of them, guided by that 
star of empire that ever wends its way westward- 
ly, as soon as, the Revolution was over and state 
titles were settled, passed this way, and took a 
portion of the much wished for heritage, from 
Phelps and Gorham, the original purchasers. 
This closely followed the townshipping of the 
Phelps and Gorham Purchase in 1788 and '89, 
but said purchase was not mapped till 1700, 
when the Hemlock^ for the first time, had a place 
on the maps of Western New York, but as the 
Canadice lay not on v. township line, it was left 
out -may be i': was not known to the surveyors. 

The first map giving the lakes in this vicinity 
their true position was drawn in 1804, but made 
Hemlock much smaller than the Canadice, but in 
a map dated in 1 809, the lakes were given then- 
relative size and true location. 

Livonia, which incloses the northern end of 
the lake, was settled in 1789 , Conesus in 1793, 
and Canadice in 1 793. The first near settler to 
the Hemlock was Philip Short, who took up 



22 history. 

lands near the foot in 1795. Maloy the Hermit 
came from the lakes east of this, and built a cab- 
in on what is now called "Blake's" point, in 
about 1 800 , and after living there three or four 
years, went to Ohio . Hawley, Daniels, Little,. 
Mitchell and Blake have each had their names 
attached to this point . John Hanna was an ear- 
ly settler on the lands now owned by Russel R. 
Jacques, and sold to Darius Jacques in 1824. 

John Emmonds was also an early settler 
south of the St. James Hotel, on f he west end 
of the Joseph Wemett farm, and east side of 
the road. Perez H. Curtice, Abner Goodrich, 
Hiram Bo wen, Martin Bo wen, Tom Saxby, 
Elijah Goodrich and Roswell and Charles Bliss, 
all had early homes on the shores of this lake, 
and all of whom we will speak of hereafter. 

Sir William Pultney and William Bowers 
who owned quite a tract of land in the town of 
Conesus and bordering on this lake, laid out a 
portion of the lake into lots in 1819, and offer- 
ed them for sale to those wishing water privi- 
leges, but we know of none having been pur- 
chased. 



HISTORY. 23 

Livonia which incloses the whole of the' foot 
of the lake, derives its name irom a Russian 
Province; Conesus from its lake, and that from 
a noted Indian chief of that name, and Cana- 
dice is from the Indian name of its lake,Ska - 
ne— a-diee. 

Long before the formation of the town of 
Springwater, the whole interval at the head of 
the lake, some three miles in length was called 
"Hemlock Valley", and said name was applied 
to the present village of Springwater, by the 
earliest settlers for many years afterwards. The 
hill that bounds the eastern shore is called both 
Ball andBald, the foimer, from being a pretty 
true segment of a circle some thirteen or more 
miles in diameter, and the latter from its bald 
appearance in a very early day, caused by the 
frequent fires of the Senecas. The former is by 
far, at present,the more appropriate name. 

Marrowback, the western hill, is said to get 
its name from the fact that two men, one from 
Turkey Hill in the western part of the town of 
Conesus, and the other from this hill once en- 
gaged in personal conflict : the one from this hill 



24 HISTORY. 

getting the better of his adversary, a by-stander 
said to the vanquished, "he has too much mar- 
row in his back for you, sir . " How much truth 
there is in this, or how else it obtained its name 
we are unable to say . 



COMMERCE. 

T a very early day in the settlement of 
this section of country, when highways 
were little better than "corduroys," lumber tW 
cheap, was still an item of very great import- 
ance, and Hemlock lake seemed to be the inter- 
mediate link between the pine and hemlock 
lands of the south, and the harder varieties of 
timber at the north, and the great demand for 
softer building material in the older settled re- 
gions at the north, and the bread stuffs of the 
north finding a ready market in the southern 
woods, made this a great commercial highway. 

As early as 1809, Samuel Hines had erected a 
saw mill, and very soon afterwards D . Goff and 
Samuel Story had erected others, on the inlet 
west of the present village of Springwater , and 
John Alger and Phineas Gilbert, in 1811, built 
one on the stream that comes tumbling: down 
from the high lands at the present residence of 
Wa H. Norton, and a road was cut to the head 
of the lake, and was surveyed as a public high- 



26 COMMERCE. 

way May 6th 1815. These men employed many 
bands in floating large quantities of lumber du- 
ring the warm season, and when the ice was suf- 
ficiently strong ofttimes it had the appearance of 
a band of pilgrims to the shrine of some high 
worthy, and often during the winter of 1838 and 
'39 as many as two hundred teams could be seen 
at one time, drawing the productions of the south- 
ern mills. Within the memory of some now liv- 
ing the mills already spoken of, together with 
those of Patchinville, Perkinsville, Spaffords and 
other ones above the "Hemlock Valley '■' furnish- 
ed lumber in almost unlimited quantities , while 
cedar from the swamps of Cohocton and hemlock 
bark Er >n tli3 same vicinity, and sash, doors 
blinds, etc. from the factory of Chamberlain, 
Grove :* and Tyler were not very small items in 
the trade. 

Flat boats or scows, as they were then called, 
were also placed upon the lake for the safer 
transportation of lumber and such articles they 
did not desire to i aft. Koswell and Charles Bliss 
w tfp perhaps the fathers of scow commerce on 
t'le lake . 'Hiram Loomis for a number of years 



COMMKRCK. 27 

kept an extensive lumber yard at tie foot of tie 
lake with, lumber furnished by Reuben Gilbert 
alone, and owned a scow which run in connec- 
tion therewith ; and hundreds of acres were 
cleared of the pine in the region of the head of 
the lake by the Gilberts and sold to other large 
dealers in the shape of frames ready for erection 
or otherwise. One who is now living says : "The 
whole foot of the lake in my recollection was 
piled up with lumber for sale. Teams from all 
parts of the country were there every hour of 
the clay loading up with lumber." This same 
Loomis had a Brick -yard in the vicinity of his 
lumber, which not only furnished brick for re- 
gions north, east and west, but also to the inhab- 
itants living south of the head. 

About 1829 a Blacksmith shop, a Shoe shop 
etc. were doing a very lively business around 
the foot of the lake. At a much later date Ebe- 
nezer Lincoln and George Johnson, living and 
clearing at the head on the west shoro, did c >n- 
siderable business with a scow transporting 
wood, rails, fence posts etc. to the foot. 

The Higby mill was built at the foot on the 



2$ COMMERCE. 

outlet as early as 1795, and Philip Short, who set- 
tled below the foot in 1796, run an extensive saw 
mill where immense quantities of logs were saw- 
el that were rafted or otherwise down the lake. 
Since these mills have ceased to operate, the 
present one at the foot has done at times, con- 
siderable business in logs taken from the hills in 
the immediate vicinity of the lake . 

The lake was also the highway over which the 
earliest settlers to the south west corner of Can- 
adice and western portion of Springwater, took 
their families and all their worldly effects. Seth 
Knowles the first settler in the western part of 
the present town of Springwater, came up on 
the ice from the town of Livonia, with all his 
earthly posessions, both animate and inanimate, 
on the last day of March 1807 ; and David Badg- 
ro, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Reuben 
Gilbert, and his own wife and a large family of 
children, together with all the worldly gear he 
possessed, came up the lake in canoes, or Indian 
"dugouts," in the spring of 1809, and settled on 
the present farm of Harlow Colgrove in Cana- 
dice. 



ACCIDENTS. 

DKOWKED. 

William Bo wen, 

^jt IKE all bodies of water which the public 
frequent at all seasons of tlic year, and 
have from the time of the white man's recollec- 
tion down to the present, accidents, both fatal 
aid otherwise, must of necessity happen, for 
where can man be placed on this sublunary 
sphere, and not be the victim, sooner or later, 
of such misfortunes. 

The first fatal accident of which we are ac- 
quainted that happened since the Seneca nation 
held absolute sway around this lake, took place 
on the 29th day of March 1827. 

William Bovven, who was born in Oneida 
County in 1795, and living at the time, and fol- 
lowing the hard but honest trade of a Blacksmith, 
at the village of Hemlock Lake, together with 
his brother John, were drawing the seine on the 
western shore of the lake, some three fourths of 



%0 ACCIDENT*. 

a mile from the Jacques House, or somewhere 
near where now stands the Lake Shore House. 

They were using a b;)at to spread the seine. 

John was doing the rowing, and William was 
the meanwhile casting out the net, when unex- 
pectedly his foot became entangled in the rope, 
and suddenly, without a moment's warninghe was 
taken to the bottom of the lake, and not being 
able to extricate himself, perished. 

His son William, now living at the village of 
Hemlock Lake who was a small lad at the time 
is the only living witness of this first fatal dis- 
aster. 



ACCIDENTS. 31' 

Alvin Marsh. 

On the 15th day of June, 1 829, Alvin Marsh, 
then about 45 years of age, and living in the 
town of Livonia, some one and a half miles 
west of the foot of the lake, started on business 
that took him eastward past the foot, and was 
to return on the same dav , Not returning as 
expected, inquiries and searches were Biilde, Hat 
were of no avail . 

Some three or four clays afterwards a violent 
thunder storm passed over the lake, ard all 
those who have been witnesses to these commo- 
tions of nature, can fully attest that the)' are ter- 
rible in this vicinity. The water has been known 
to be considerably agitated at such times, and 
the old hills send back growling and deafening 
echoes and reverberations that seem to come frcta 
the very bowels of the earth . Soon alter, his 
body was found floating in the lake about one 
third of the way across eastwardly from the "Tit- 
tle" point . When he went away from home, it 
was known that he carried money with him, but 
when his body was found, neither money nor 



<>3 ACCIDENTS. 

wallet was with it; do bc-Des could be found 
that were broken , but a gash extending from 
the left eye back to the ear, was plainly discern- 
ible, and his clothes were badly rent, showing 
beyond the possibility of a doubt, that previous 
to death, there had been a desperate struggle, 
and lie evidently was the victim . 

A Coroner's Inquest was held, but nothing 
elicited that would in any way go to clear up the 
mystery, but the opinion was freely expressed, 
that he had been waylaid, robbed, and his body 
thro wd; into the lake . 



ACCIDENTS* 33 

Tanner and Waters. 

The next one occurred April 14th 18oo . 
Willis Waters, aged 18, son of Jonathan Wa- 
ters who came from Sheffield in the State oi 
Massachusetts in 1814, and settled on the west 
part of the present farm of Andrew Brown on 
Ball Hill, and John Tanner, from Conesus, but 
who had hired or leased the Half Way House, 
and had moved thereto on Saturday and inten- 
ded to open it as a Tavern on Monday, started 
out in company, much against the advice of 
friends, to take a mess of fish . The wind was 
blew'ng strong, and white-taps showed themselves 
like maddened spirits on the surface of this, at 
times, unruly lake. It was considered a fool-har- 
dy move by every one, but it is thought that they 
intended to cross over to the west shore pretty 
well towards the head of the lake where the wa. 
ter was less rough, but their fatal hour had ar- 
rived. When nearly two thirds of the distance 
towards the place of their destination, it was 
thought by those on shore, they attempted to 
change j)laces, when their little bark capsized . 



In 4 ACCIDENTS. 

One of them, supposed to be Tanner, who was 
a very good swimmer, was seen to mount the 
inverted boat several times, and was heard to 
call loudly for help,but no one dared go to their 
assistance . 

Their hats or caps floated, and were afterwards 
picked up, and the boat was caught by some 
brush on the western shore, somewhere south of 
the cabin which Dr. Norton used to frequent in 
his last days . The bed of the lake was thor- 
oughly raked, times without number, cannons 
were fired, and every available means were used 
to recover the bodies, but all in vain - they were 
destined to rest in a watery grave . 

Months afterwards, a boot was found with 
bones of the foot and leg to the knee nearly cov- 
ered with sand, which was thought to be one 
that belonged to Tanner . Tanner was a married 
man and left a wife and one child . 



ACCIDENTS. GO 

John Martin Jr. 

It seems that Fatality was to attend those who 
fixed their abode at the Half Way House, for 
in the month of June, 1842, John Martin Jr., 
( who-e father left the "sweet land of Erin," but 
one short year before, to follow the business of 
a drover, had bought one half the property of 
Porter Fowler,) together with John Wilkinson 
started on an errand to Lawrence Webster's in 
Conesus, to obtain some turnip seed. 

After they had crossed over near the cave 
banks on the western shore, Martin thought it a 
good time to make his first attempt at swim- 
ming, so, after Wilkinson had departed on his 
errand, he, on that pleasant Sabbath morning, 
anchored his boat, disrobed himself and put his 
clothes in the boat, but shortly afterwards a 
spy-glass from the eastern shore failed to seethe 
form of Martin anywhere . 

Search was made and his body was found 
nearly under the boat in a little over live feci 
of water, and Wetmore hooked a trout hook 
into his under jaw and trolled the body across 



:,:? ACCTOKNTSV 

the lake. We are also told that Martin was 
alone on that fatal day, and not with Wilkinson, 
and also that he was drowned south of Fisher's 
point, but we have given the generally accepted 
version of the case - 



ACCIDENTS. ; 7 

Mary J. Williams. 

This was truly a sad case. For one in the 
bloom of life, with all the happiness seemingly 
that mortal can ask, a pleasant home, kind and 
loving associates, and a genial,, christian spirit, 
to voluntarily commit so rash an act as suicide, 
during a temporary aberration of mind, seems 
ever a sad tale to tell. 

Mary was born September, 19th 1839, and on 
the 12th day of June, 1859, when a. little less 
than twenty years of age, while attending scho< i 
at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, 1 ;i ■ 
latter date being on Sunday, she was at tie 
looming services at the Methodist church, in fcl e 
afternoon at the C.>llege Chapel and at tie 
Prayer Meeting in the evening until 9 o'clock. 

She was living with her uncle, the late Prof. 
Bragdon and occupied the same room that. h< ■ 
cousin Miss Bragdon did. They both retired to 
bsdj but at 1:2 o'clock Miss Bragdon aw >ke a**/] 
found Mary up and rcadingher Blb!-\ She re- 
qu ''s'vd her to comr to bed, rr»d shje r 'plied "I 
will ::i a niHu^v 1 Miss Bra don clrnWwl asleep 



*T3 .ACCIDENTS, 

and that Wffl the last that was seen of Mary 
while alive, A thorough search and investiga- 
tion was made, and a reward of fifty dollars was 
offered, but not until the next Saturday was 
her body found. 

The late Albert Chapman, who was fishing 
with some other comrades from Lima, found 
her floating in this lake southward of the pres- 
ent Steam Saw Mill and some one fourth of a 
mile distant therefrom. The body was immedi- 
ately taken to Lima, a Coroner's Inquest held, 
ail the Jury brought in a verdict of " suicide, 
while deranged. 17 Mr. Chapman received the re- 
ward, but lie benevolently used it in placing a 
fitting memorial at her grave. 

It was found after her departure that 
she had packed all her clothes carefully 
in her trunk, except her poorest suit which 
she wore to the lake . A kind and loving 
l^ter, received that week from one to 
Whom she was engaged to be married, 
contained nothing to cause her to commit 
s> hasty an act, and from the closest investiga- 
tion possible, nothing has ever been elicited 



ACCIDENTS. &% 

that should mar her happiness or character in 
the least . Numerous rumors were afloat at the 
time, but they were all void of truth, and the 
name of Mary Jane Williams remains to-day in 
the memory of her surviving schoolmates as 
that of a much esteemed, christian lady. 



40 ACCIDENTS. 

Charles Shepard. 

Charles Shepard a lad of eleven years of age, 
Bon of A. G. Shepard living on Ball Hill in 
the town of Canadice, was sent by his father in 
the early morning of the 18th day of August 
186?, to ask S. W. Wheaton, a neighbor, for a 
b^. in which his father and his uncle Isaac 
Stevenson wished to cross the lake. The boat 
lay at the "Lima" house, and after he had done 
Lis errand, he crossed the lots in the direction of 
the lake, and was afterwards seen to cross the 
lake and return, in the boat. He had often been 
at hh uncle's ( H. J. Wemett) at the Half Way 
Hou:: ; e and had there learned to use the oar. 

Search was made for him ; the boat was found 
containing his clothing, but not until the 20th 
was his body recovered. Previous to his going 
away, his mother had spoken to him about 
changing his clothes, and as he had been assist- 
ing some in threshing, she suggested that he 
should have a good wash before putting on his 
clean garments, and while in bathing from some 
cause or other, he met his death. His body was 



ACCIDENTS. 41 

found in some twelve feet of water, in 
the neighborhood of where now stands the 
St James Hotel. 



42 ACCIDENTS. 

Michael Murphy. 

Michael, during his boyhood, lived with the 
late Ruel Blake in the town of Livonia, and 
after marriage kept his house. A few days pre- 
vious to" his being drowned, he was at work in 
Blake's hop yard on the "Maloy or Tittle" point. 
On Sunday, June 5th 18 70, a party of Nunda 
boys were camping at " Vesper cliff," and Mi- 
chael and Patrick Ryan spent a portion of the 
day and night following there, and at Niver- 
gall's. Between two and three o'clock Monday 
morning, they started for the point, and boat 
leaking, they emptied it, and when well towards 
Echo Rock , a voice was heard at Mvergall's, 
calling "Fred." Mrs.Mvergall and daughter 
repaired to the spot and found Ryan on the in- 
verted boat, and Michael's hat floating. Ryan 
said that Murphy was at the bottom of the lake. 
After searching the balance of the night and near- 
ly all next day, his body was found some eighty 
rods north of Echo Rock. Murphy was twenty 
nine years of age at the time of his death. 



ACCIDENTS. 4.** 

Morey Willis. 

The last one that has died from drowning in 
this lake, was Morey Willis, aged 16. He was 
living with his father in Springwater, and was 
drowned June, 18th, 1880. It happened on the 
occasion of the annual opening of the Port- 
House, and on the opposite side of the la.ke, 
just south of the Dr. Norton cabin . 

Morey, with some other youngsters, had cross- 
ed the lake for the purpose of bathing, and vent- 
uring out too far, or too near the break-off to 
deep water, slid down the bank, and when he 
arose, he was too far away for his associates to 
rescue him . He was the youngest son of Caleb 
W. Willis. 



44 ACCIDENTS. 

Polly Austin. 

Here we shall place as an intermediate link in 
our order, the case of Polly Austin. 

An aged widow, mother of the late Nathan 
Austin of Hemlock Lake village, was found 
dead some three fourths of a mile from the 
head of the lake, and a short distance away from 
the west shore, in the woods, in May, 1844. 
She was an inmate of the Almshouse, and was 
often allowed to <x<> away on a furlough, and 
was often gone for quite a number of weeks, 
staying where charity would permit her so to do. 

It is said by some, that she had been at Co- 
hocton, and on her return stopped at Ebenezer 
Lincoln's, and said she was on her way to Cone- 
sus, and by others, that she was on her way to 
Lincoln's. This was in the month of February, 
three months before her body was found by 
some boys while fishing. As' she had so often 
been away under similai circumstances, no search 
or inquiries were made in regard to her where- 
abouts. During the time her body had lain 
there in the forest, the wild animals had feasted 



ACCIDENTS. 45 

therefrom, and it was in an advanced stage of 
putrefaction when found. From all appearances 
she had become weary, lost her way, and lad 
lain down for the niodit, at the foot of an as;ed 
hemlock. A pair of new shoes she had taken 
from her feet and placed them under her head. 
Her scanty supply of provisions were carefully 
tied up in a small shawl, and she had evidently 
arranged herself as comfortably as she could for 
a rest, but there is no doubt but she perished 
from the cold. 

A Coroner was notified, and with him came 
her son Nathan, who said he supposed tier to be 
his mother, but he was given away so early in 
infancy, that all he knew in regard to it was, 
that she had once told him she was his mother, 
but he discredited it until he learned other facts 
after her remains were found . 

In that lonely wild, a prayer was made by the 
Rev. A. B. Green, now of South Pultney, and 
her son took the body down the lake for burial. 



46 ACCIDENTS. 

A vast number of accidents which were not 
fatal to human life, might be noticed under this 
head, but we will mention but a few and those 
only where a loss of some domestic animal, has 
been sustained. 

In 1779, Ephraim Tucker while living in Li- 
vonia, wis en the ice v\ith tv\o yoke of oxen. 
The ice giving way, all were precipitated into 
the dee]), and Ephiaim was no swimmer, but 
still be managed to unyoke his oxen, and cling- 
ing to the back of one, came out at last, minu- 
one ox only. 

Jasper Marvin from Lima, while drawing 
lumber from Springwater in 1838, lost a nice 
span of horses through the ice, near the foot of 
the lake. 

David Barn hart, mentioned in another place, 
once lost an ox here, and William H. Norton 
who had been to Hemlock Lake village mill 
with a heavy load of corn, went through the ice 
when opposite the Kosenkrans Cottage in 1860, 
and lost a valuable span of horses. These are 
all of this nature that we can recall at this time. 



STEAM BOATS. 

Watson. 

<&L TEAM was not used for the purpose of 

g||| propelling water craft on this lake till 
comparatively a late date. 

In the year 1860, George Watson of the city 
of Rochester, an old experienced canal boat 
builder conceived the idea that a boat built alter 
the canal boat pattern somewhat, but large e- 
nough to carry a boiler and engine, besides some 
room for passengers, would be a nice thing for 
both pleasure and profit. A house was erected 
near where A. H. Kinney's Cottage now stands, 
and a son, Stephen Wa f son moved therein to 
work on it under his father's superintendence. 
The boat when finished was seventy feet long 
and eighteen feet beam, and proved as unwieldy 
as a canal scow. The b >iler an 1 engine were 
taken from the old steam saw mill near by and 
put into the boat, and though it did considera- 
ble puffing in its way, yet it made very little 



48 STEAMBOATS. 

progress. On the day of the launching, quite a 
large assemblage of people were present to wit- 
ness the scene. It made frequent trips to the 
head of the lake, and dancing parties were not- 
infrequent on its deck, but not proving a success, 
as anticipated, it closed its career as a steamer, at 
the end of the second summer, and the boiler 
and engine were replaced in the old mill, and it 
was used as a scow for some time afterwards . 

Most of the means used in its construction 
was furnished by Stephen's wife, and it eventually 
passed into her hands, in satisfaction for her 
claim, and also through the hands of Vidette 
Wright, Arminius Bugbee, Printice Chesbro 
and Alonzo B. Hosford, and at last was scut- 
tled, filled with rocks, and the last relics of it 
form a portion of the landing for the Lake Shore 
House, proving no more worthy of a good and 
successful record than 

" that fatal and perfidious Lark, 
Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark." 



STEAMBOATS. 4l> 

Seth Green. 

While the "Seth " was being built, a lively 
interest was taking hold of quite a goodly num- 
ber of those who annually rusticate for a few 
days or weeks, and from the increasing numbers 
who were trending hitherward, many cnild safe- 
ly divine, that in the near future this lake must 
become a noted place for summer resort, and as 
the day foi its launching was quite a gala one, 
we know of no better way to chronicle said 
event than to copy somewhat from our own re- 
port, published the week following in the "On- 
tario County Times." 

"A few days previous to the 25th day of June 
in the year of grace one thousand eight hundred 
and seventy-four, handbills proclaiming that the 
"New Steamer Seth Green" would be launched, 
and make a trip on that day on Hemlock Lake, 
having been scattered as thickly around as "au- 
tumnal leaves that strow the brooks of Vallom- 
brosia," we, your humble correspondent, threw 
"care to the dogs" and proceeded to the scene 
of action, where we arrived at half -past nine. 



50 STEAMBOATS. 

The morning was one of the loveliest in June 
and the lake, a beautiful sheet of water, whose 
surface was as smooth and placid as ever was 
broken by a Seneca's oar, some seven miles long 
and from one to two wide, and while standing 
at the foot and looking up towards the head we 
could see on either side flocks and herds feeding 
in green fields, or the young luxuriant grain of 
old Livonia; while farther up, in Canadice,on the 
left, and Conesus on the right, the green old 
hills looming up in solemn grandeur along whose 
sides gigantic shadows chased each other as the 
light clouds flit before the sun, and clad in their 
primeval garb just as they were spoken into ex- 
istence by the voice of God. 

As we had plenty of time we spent some two 
hours or more lounging around on the west 
shore visiting the little cabins and summer 
houses dotting the banks for some distance up 
the lake, and also the "Jacques House," which 
has been a fashionable resort for not only tran- 
sient but permanent boarders through the sum- 
mer season for a number of years; and the 
"Lake Shore House," first opened to the pub- 



STEAMBOATS. 5 1 

lie about eleven months ago, which will be, for 
the present at least, the headquarters of the new 
steamer in question. 

At both of these places plenty of boats, fishing 
tackle and stabling for teams can be had at any 
time and at reasonable rates. Those wishing a 
"temperance" house can be satisfied at Jacques, 
while those who wish to get a little " old Rye' 1 
can pass a little farther up the lake and by 
accommodated at the Lake Shore IIou.se. 

When we arrived but few had gathered to 
partake of the festivities of the day, but by elev- 
en o'clock the balcony of the Shore House, the 
shore of the lake, and the rustic pass-way leading 
to where the young "Seth" was safely secured, 
( for it had slid into the lake two days in ad- 
vance of us ) were pretty well packed with the 
young and old, of all nations and all shades 
from the sable Congo to unnatural whiteness of 
the invalid, for "the cradle and the grave had 
been robbed " of their inmates to witness a scene 
not common in this vicinity. 

Soon came the Cornet Band of Lima, which 
was received by the discharge of a terrible load 



52 STEAMBOATS. 

from a "hell metal" brought from Way! and for 
the occasion by the Hon. James G. Bennett 
late member of Assembly from old Steuben, — a 
naval piece that did good service and spoke well 
all through the rebellion. At a little past eleven, 
the band, together with a favored few, started 
down the lake with the steamer to the Jacques 
House amid the booming of cannon and music 
by the band, and while they are gone it w r ill be 
a good time to tell "Seth's" history, &e. 

file steamer was built in 1873, by Kingston 
Brothers of Buffalo, for Clark Morehouse <f 
Wayland, and delivered a few weeks ago. It is 
thirty-eight feet in length, nine feet beam and 
draws between two and three feet of water. 
The boiler is of the Baxter pattern, of six horse 
power, ard the engine was made at Cornirg 
by Preston. 

After landing, and dinner at the Shore House, 
it was ascertained that the veritable Seth Green 
who was advertised to be present and present a 
tiao- for the steamer was not on hand, but Miss 
Mattie Atkinson, about fifteen years of age, from 
T.ima. was. and after a few introductory remarks 



STEAMBOATS. 53 

by Mr.Galetins from the same place, and "Hail 
Columbia," by the Band, she, while standing on 
the deck of the little steamer, and in the name 
of Seth Green, presented the flag in the follow- 
ing words : "We are called here to.day to chris- 
ten and set afloat this small, neat and tidy 
steamer, 'Seth Green,' and iling to the breeze 
the beautiful streamer which he has given, bear- 
ing his name, which I have now the honor to 
present. 1 ' Barnes, of the Steuben Courier, was 
called on to respond, who mounted the deck and 
read a half sheet or less of foolscap, the words 
we were unable to obtain because he said he 
"spoke from notes." Then came the "Star Span- 
gled Banner," from the Band, three cheers for 
the steamer and three more for the Cornet Band 
of Lima, then "Seth," with fifty persons on 
board, slowly and silently left for a trip up the 
lake, while the Band gave us the "Marsellaise 
Hymn," and Bennett, another word from his 
little Commodore; but after going lip jjs jar as 
" Echo Rock "it swung around the circle, ard 
landed again, the trip ending \\!;L"St, Ir.t- 
rick's Day in the Morning." 



54 STEAMBOATS. 

A few short trips were made when the visit- 
ors from the head of the lake went on board 
and with music by the Band, interspersed with 
martial strains which were not unpleasant to 
take fi\xn H. A. Clark arid son of Spring water, 
and Bennett and Newman of Wayland, we pass- 
ed the romantic possessions of Bishop McQuaid, 
of Rochester, who has erected on a sightly emi- 
nence a " Home .for the retired Priests in his 
Diocese,"' and landed safely at about six at the 
Half Way House." 

The steamer passed into the hands of L. B. 
Oliiey of Wayland, who ran it for two seasons. 
T. J.- Reynolds became the next owner who 
sold it to H. J. Wemett, to whom it belonged 
during its after existence as a boat. Captain 
Fox leased and ran it two seasons, and in the 
fail of 1878, it was pronounced unseaworthy, 
and laid aside, to make room the next season 
for the 



STEAMBOATS. OQ 



Corabelle. 



The Setli Green having proved a complete 
success, its owner, Wemett, did not venture a 
farthing, when he concluded to replace it with 
a larger craft, made of superior material,, and 
capable of accommodating the rapidly increas- 
ing business of the lake. Early in the season of 
1879, Samuel Ilingston the old, experienced 
boat builder of Buffalo, employed by the said 
H. J. Wemett, commenced, and on the July fol- 
lowing, finished, and successfully launched tlie 
present worthy Corabelle. She measures forty 
five feet on the keel, with ten and a half feet in 
the beam, and capable of carrying a load, re- 
spectable in numbers. 



5(> STEAMBOATS. 

Mollie Tefft. 

The vast amount of work done; the immense 
crowds of passengers constantly being carried 
by the Corabelle in 1879, created quite a desire 
to share in what was considered by every one, a 
Bonanza. The same Samuel Hingston was again 
brought into requisition ; and rather late in the 
season of 1880, was successfully launched the 
Mollie Tefft. The Mollie was built more in 
the style of the larger lake steamers, with the 
pilot house on top. It measures sixty five 
feet in extreme length, and f welve and five 
twelfths feet in the beam, and has an engine of 
nineteen, and a boiler of twenty two horse power. 

Mrs. Mollie Tefft of Kochester, who owns 
"Maple Hill" Cottage, is the owner. George 
Snyder ran it two seasons, and Frank Tefft, son 
of Mollie, the last. 

In the spring of 1882, the pilot house was re- 
moved, and thus it was arranged so that one 
less hand is required to handle it. The Mollie 
is a staunch boat, and has a capacity to stow 
away a goodly congregation. 



STEAMBOATS. 57 

Nellie. 

The Nellie wa3 not first launched in these wa- 
ters. It was first built as a Ship life-boat, and 
has seen service in "Merry old England," before 
it cleft the waves of Canandaigua and lloneoye 
lakes and was introduced here in the season of 
1881, by Captain William Wicks, by whom it 
has been successfully managed, for the two sea- 
sons. The hull is built wholly of iron, and as 
long as it is sound, it should be perfectly sea- 
worthy. It measures some twenty-four feet in 
length, and eight or nine feet beam, aid last 
summer, it made a daily morning trip around 
the lake, taking orders, and feeding the hungry 
cottagers and campers. 

As it was called Nellie at the time it made 
its appearance here , we have so called i f , but 
that name was hauled down during the past 
season , and "A . Bronson" placed in its stead . 



58 STEAMBOATS. 

Camilla . 

The Camilla is somewhat smaller than the 
Nellie, and has also seen service before it came 
here. It belongs to McDonald and Reynolds of 
the city of Rochester, and was successfully 
managed last season by the youthful Captain, 
Bert. Reynolds. This was its first season here, 
and like all the before -mentioned boats, it ran 
as a regular passenger carrier. 

Wave . 

This little clipper is smaller than any other 
steamer on the lake, and quite different in many 
respects, from any of them. It belongs, and was 
run last season for the first, by Farnsworth of 
Lima, and is exclusively a family pleasure boat. 
It was built expressly for this lake, and will 
be remodelled somewhat for the coming season. 




INCIDENTS. 

WMfa R'EN the whites first became acquaint- 
ing ed with this section of country, an In- 
dian trail led along the eastern shore of Canadice 
lake; one over Ball Hill, and another along the 
eastern shore of this lake, uniting at the present 
residence of Harlow Colegrove, and then passed 
on southwardly to the Susquehanna River. 

Large bodies of Indians encamped during the 
warmer portions of the year on the Hats at the 
foot, where they raised large quantities of corn, 
beans and squashes. The present farm of C. H. 
Mack at the head of the lake was also a camping 
ground, and Indian pestles, <fcc. are still occa- 
sionally found there, while farther southward 
on the trail was another one on the farm of the 
late Aldrich Wiley. 

In about the year 1791, Austin, son of Solo- 
mon Woodruff who was the first settler in the 
present town of Livonia, was stolen by the In- 
dians while his father was away from home. 
Solomon, on his return, ascertained the direction 
taken by them with his stolen boy, and having 



60 INCIDENTS. 

followed, alone and unarmed, pretty well up on 
the eastern shore of this lake on the trail spoken 
of, overtook the band and obtained his little 
four year old lad. 



One year previous to 1800, Ephraim Tucker 
came from the State of Connecticut to the town 
of Livonia and settled the Sylvester Francis 
farm and after a few years residence in Dans- 
ville on the old plank road, where the yellow 
Avillows are above the toll-gate, he returned to 
Ball Hill, and after living to a ripe, old age, in 
full view of the lovely Hemlock where he had 
ca ighc many of the tinny race, and of the green 
hillsides on which he had hunted the wild and 
prowling denizens of the primitive forests du- 
ring more than three decades of the present cen- 
tury, he died and was buried on the eastern 
slop;? of the hill of his adoption. 

While living in Livonia his young cattle one 
day strayed up the Hemlock, and towards sun- 
set he put off in pursuit, with two dogs for 



INCIDENTS. 61 

company, one a cur and the other, part hound. 
When well up towards the cave banks he saw 
two young cubs, which on his approach quickly 
found a retreat in the branches of a smooth 
maple sapling, and forgetting his cattle for the 
while, thought he would procure one of the lit- 
tle fellows in the tree, so up he goes in pursuit, 
The tree, like all saplings growing closely togeth- 
er, was surmounted by a tall, slim top, to which 
the cubs resorted far, far beyond his reach. 

While trying to dislodge the little fellows, old 
Bruin put in an appearance, much to the discom- 
fiture of both dogs and owner, and after making 
a few circular observations, the dogs sitting on 
their haunches the while with backs to the ma- 
ple, one eye taking careful notes of Bruin's sur- 
vey and the other askantly resting on their 
master up the tree, she beat a retreat; this she 
repeated three or four times, each absence being 
longer than the former one. The hero of out- 
story thinking that Bruin was mustering her 
forces for a nightly carnival, sans cubs, quick lv 
descended from his uncomfortable quarters, and 
if legs were ever faithful to their owner, the 



62 INCIDENTS. 

terrible inroads made on fundamental quarters, 
before considered as invulnerable as were the 
"seven bull hides of Ajax," by the fallen trees 
and underbrush of the eastern shores of the 
Hemlock, fully attest that Ephraim's legs were 
true and loyal to him. 



Often in company with Ephraim was an old 
Hermit by the name of Maloy, who, after pass- 
ing a few years on what is now Cook's point on 
Canandaigua lake, and also beneath "Maloy's 
Bluff 7 ' at the head of the Honeoye, in a lonely 
cabin, cam^ to the Hemlock and built another 
cabin on the west side on loc No. 19. 

The Hemlock then had its weird and solitary 
nooks, n't abodes for the bear, catamount or pan- 
ther', or ghosts of departed spirits; and while 
Maloy was one morning catching a few fish for 
his "chowdei" breakfast, happily seated in his 
"dug-out," an old bear came from one of the$v 
secluded nooks with the evident intention of 
breakfasting on Maloy. Armed with nothing 



INCIDENTS. (j3 

save what fcis Creator gave him, it was a native 
tussle. Old Bruin led the affray, mounted the 
boat, which not being able to hold two at variance, 
upset, thus giving them both an equal chance 
for their lives. Maloy, who was amphibious in 
his habits and as much at home in the watery 
element as was his aggressor, clambered on io 
his dug-out, caught a small floating paddle, and 
knowing the brute's ttmderest point, gave him a 
clip on the nazal protuberance, depressing the 
fore and elevating the after portions of the mon- 
ster, which Maloy quickly took the advantage 
of by grasping, with a grip like the infant Her- 
cules on the Theban serpents, the caudal appen- 
dage of his said antagonist, and after much 
writhing and blubbering, old Bruin came out 
second best, and graced the table of Maloy for 
many an after meal. 



In an early day on the farm of C. H. Mack 
before mentioned, at the head of the lake lived 
David Tompkins. He was not what the world 



04 INCIDENTS. 

would call handsome, but from a rackety scaf- 
fold he had built over the "dead inlet," he could 
charm and take in one night more Bullheads 
with a spear than an) 7 fifty men that ever at- 
tempted to practice the "gentle art." He was 
a Blacksmith by trade, had two boys, David Jr. 
and Fortunatus, who were very apt Vulcans in 
their way. 

Once on a time it was said, when Jews-harps 
were more fashionable than Organs, these boys 
took it into their heads to make one, - a large 
one - one whose music would u soothe a savage." 

They closed the doors of the shop and went 
to work and forged out one so bulky that it was 
music for two. 

Aslhe sun was falling behind Ike western 
hill, an unearthly noise was heard in the direc- 
tion of the shop. David Sr. and the better half 
were lively to investigate the condition of the 
boys. As they opened the shop door Fortuna- 
tus with the sledge handle gave the tongue of 
the harp, which David was holding in his mouth 
lirrnly with both hands, another w r ipe, when lo ! 
both father and mother fell, perfectly paralyzed! 



INCIDENTS. 05 

Among the accidents on this unbriny sheet of 
water, but which has unavoidably crept m un- 
der this heading, was the loss of an ox belong- 
ing to David Barnhart. 

David's organ of Caution was naturally very 
large and active, and it has usually kept him out 
of harm's way, but once when the u Hill Turn- 
pike " was " melodiously miserable," David vent- 
ured to come up the lake on the ice. The result 
was, he went home with one ox, while the other 
became food for the finny dwellers of the deep. 

David often declares he will never trust him- 
self on the ice again until he knows to a " dead 
certainty" that the water commenced at the bot- 
tom to freeze, and froze up solid, and it is said 
that he hesitates to take even now, a full meal 
of fish caught through the ice, for fear it may 
incline him lakeward ! 



Dick Wetmore was a man who in some re- 
spects lived somewhat like his ancestral brothers 
of the forest. Whenever he went a-fishing hie 



66 INCIDENTS. 

lack was invariably good, while his neighbors 
who accompanied him and who had stored at 
home something for present and future use, 
often sat basking in the sun for hours and did 
not get even a nibble, save from musketoes. 

The reason Dick assigned for his better luck 
was: "that the Almighty knew whose pork 
barrel was empty." 



It was in this lake or some other, if it ever 
happened, that old Mrs. Smith w T as deprived of 
her dear copartner for life by drowning. After 
he had lain at the bottom for a number of weeks, 
and sympathetic neighbors had diligently raked 
for the body, it was at last fortunately brought 
to the shore, when behold, twenty -two fair sized 
Pickerel had sought a home therein. The be- 
reaved widow was immediately notified and 
asked what disposition to make of the body. 
She feelingly replied : "Save the pickerel, and 
set the body again" 



INCIDENTS. C7 

From time immemorial this lake has been no- 
ted as good fishing grounds, but away back in 
an early day, we are told, that but few varieties 
could be caught here. Lake Trout, Suckers, Sun- 
fish and Herring or more properly Whitefish, 
were here in abundance when the whites first 
became fishermen here. Charles Bliss, long years 
since placed some new varieties here. Some thir- 
ty live years ago the Whitefish were so plenty 
that wagon loads were caught in one night; but 
that time also can be counted as the be^innin^ 
of their decline, and now perhaps not a scale of 
them can be found here. Some of the largest of 
them would weigh a pound each. Large quanti- 
ties of fish of different kinds, have been put in 
here from time to* time. S. G. Grover and H. S. 
Tyler placed Pickerel and Perch here in the 
winter of 1838 and '39; Geo. A. Pierce and Dr. 
Requa, Oswego Bass in 1859; Black Bass from 
Irondequoit Bay by a Lima company, the same 
year; Black Bass, Rock Bass, Silver Bass and 
Pike in 1870, by W. II. Pierce; Oswego Bass, 
Rock Bass, White Bass, Strawberry Bass and 
Yellow Pike by W. II. Atkinson, furnished by 



fi8 INCIDENT?. 

Se J h Grten, Supt. of N. Y. State Fish Commis- 
sion. Tl e first lot of Salmon Trout was ptit into 
the head by the Piercs brothers, and the next lot 
of 100,000 by Atkinson, off Ackley's p< int, and 
Green has also furnished large quantities at divers 
times since to different parties for the fame 
purpose. 



A few catches or so. we will mention, so our 
successor can have a starting point for u fish sto- 
ries." 

George A. Pierce and Charles Sedgwick were 
once fishing here on the ice, when Charles at- 
tempted to draw up his hook, found he had 
caught a Whitefish weighing a pound, which 
had been swallowed by a monstrous Trout which 
did not disgorge him until being drawn through 
the hole in the ice. Fred Millard caught a 
Trout, opposite the Half Way House, July 15th, 
1878, that weighed 12J pounds; in March 1845, 
George Williams, one that weighed 16 pounds; 
George King, one that weighed 1 5£ pounds; 



Amirlon Goodrich, one that weighed 20 pounds; 
Spaoldiiig Shepard one, bee. 24th, 1846, that 
weighed in a frozen state, next morning, 19| 
pounds, and Philip Wettnore, in the winter of 
IS38 and 'V,oms that weighed 2(5 pounds, and 
it was taken to where Dr. Gibbs now lives, by 
Sylvenus Coxe and George Williams. They 
tied its head to a pole which they carried on 
their shoulders, and its tail trailed along on the 
ground. 



GUIDE. 

^S^tf? K now purpose to write up the items 
|^^| pertaining to the history of each cot- 
tage, briefly, or, so much thereof as we have 
been able to obtain. We shall not attempt to 
draw pictures of fancy, nor claim that those who 
were the earliest here, "reaped immortal fruits 
of uninterrupted joy and love in blissful solitude." 
Oar star ting p Vidt will be the S';. James, not 
because it has been more years in business here 
than any other public house, nor will we call 
this or any other place on the lake an "Elysium," 
for each little rustic summer home has its own 
peculiar attractions, and to the several owners 
of sites along its shores, each has his or her 
"Eden," but as it will subserve our purpose a 
little better, and as it is here no doubt, that 
most will congregate, and from here will more 
commence to take the tour of the lake, than 
from any other place, and as all the Steamers^ 
plowing these waters daily, touch at this dock, 
we will commence and end our pleasure trip here. 



GUIDE. 7 1 

St. James. 

Before we take our departure, we will say, 
that this well-built and commodious Hotel stands 
forty by eighty feet on the ground, three stories 
in height, is well finished and furnished throu ^. 
out, for one located on an inland resort like thin, 
was built in the season of 1879, by Daniel S. 
Beam, for Whitney and Ackley, and was opened 
to the public in the summer of that year. 
Whitney and Ackley have been its constant pro- 
prietors, and the business it Las done must be it* 
best reouimendations. It is capable of accom- 
modating sixty regular boarders besides tran- 
sient ones. Here will be found free picnic tables 
and seats; accommodating employees, and decid- 
edly the best arranged public grounds on the 
lake. In the cove on the north of the landing, 
is where young Shepard was drowned. 
Wemett's. 

Before you fairly get under way, you pass 
the summer residence of H. J. Wemett, the own- 
er and manager of the steamer " Corabelle." 



(Z GI'IDE. 

He bui't here in 1881, and the hear! -quarters of 
his boat are here, or at the dock of the St. James. 

Blake's. 

The next one in order, is where E. J. Blake, 
of Livonia, spends many odd hours. It was built 
on the extreme north end of the Maloy point 
many years ago, and was taken over on the ice, 
in the winter of 1878 and '9. 

Thurston's. 

Last season George Thurston, also of Livonia, 
built the rather tasty Cottage, on nearly the 
identical ground where McCloud lived, "in the 
days of old lang syne." 

He is an old camper on this lake, and before 
we *^nd our Gour, we shall pass his trail for the 
third time. 



GUIDK. 1 3 

Day and MoreyV. 

At the little ravine, stands the humble! sum- 
mer house of the Rev. S. M. Day and Morey of 
Honeoye. It dates its erection in the year 1 880. 

AtwellV 

Before this lake became frequented, as now, 
with the busy throngs of pleasure-seekers, Geo. 
Atwell, of Lima, built a cottage on the west 
side of the foot, and each summer passed such 
time as leisure gave him, there. This was in 
1870, and in the fall cf '81 Le sold to Kendall 
of the Jacques House, and built the cool, shady, 
gables we are now passing. A short distance 
south of here, you will perceive a small pile of 
stones below the road, and just north of the run. 
Here is where Joe Barnhart lived, long years ago. 

Forest Home. 

On this point will be found three Cottages. 
The first was built in 1882 by John Litiendorf, 



74 guide. 

and lie calls it Forest Home, and the name is 
very well applied. 

Engle Wood, 

The second one, was erected by the Millards of 
Hemlock Lake Village in 1878. 

Union Cottage. 

During the season of 1879, John Morley from 
Lima commenced a series of improvements, 
which have culminated in one of the most lovely 
and delightful places of resort on this lake. 
John knows how to make the wilderness blossom, 
arid out of a tangled wood, he has made a pleas- 
ant retreat. South of this a short distance, Hi- 
ram Bo wen and Tom Saxby, in about 1840, had 
log cabins; Bo wen's, at the pile of stones above 
the road, and Saxby's, where the portable Steam 
saw mill was. Tom was a thorough-bred boxer. 

Wild Wood. 

H. S. Rosenkrans of Wayland, in '78, select- 



GUIDK. 73 

ed a shady giwe, and has a comfortable cottage 
and stables, where he enjoys himself, during 
the sultry days of summer, when other duties 
will permit. 

Moss Rock. 

This is the Tambling-Larrowe Cottage, ert er- 
ed in '79, by Tambling, and wife who was tho 
widow Larrowe. They are residents of Liberty, 
and have one of the best made and most com- 
fortable houses on the lake. 

Bennetts 1 . 

The Hon. J. G. Bennett of Wayland, bought 
of Win. Scidmore, in August, '73, and erected a 
portion of his present cottage in '74, on nearly 
the same spot where Martin Bowen, upwards of 
forty years ago, put up a frame for a house, and 
Guy Bennett in the latter year purchased * i 
Wells, and moved his cottage thereto. 



76 ofide. 

Miller's. 

Geo. A. Miller and Wm. Shannon of Spring- 
water, bought a few acres, including the Sulphur 
Spring, in '78, and Shannon sold to Millar soon 
afterwards. In '81, Miller put up his summer 
house, and he has spent much of his time here, 
since then. Just south of his house is the Spring. 

Half Way House. 

In opening the highway along the eastern 
shore of the lake in 1826, hands found it so in- 
convenient to climb the hill after a day at hard 
labor, that Abner Goodrich erected a double log 
house below the road on this point, and moved 
thereto for hi?, and their accommodation. The 
next year when the road was completed, he 
built the old part of the present structure, and 
the balance was added by King in after years. 

In 1834 he sold to Porter Fowler, who leased 
it to Joseph King for eight years, then sold one 
half to John Martin, and the other half to John 
Jenkins who built a house on the hill. Philip 



GUIDK. 77 

Wetmore rented Martin's half for two years. 
Five years from Fowler's sale, the whole came 
back into his hands again. Samuel Darling was 
the next occupant, then Joseph King again. 

George and John King purchased it, and sold 
to H. J. Wemett. Since that sale, Wemett, 
Yorks, Nivergall and Barnhart ha\;e occupied 
it. The log house in which Goodrich first lived, 
a son Charles, Patrick O' Neil and Martin Bo wen 
afterwards occupied. This pr jperty passed from 
the hands of Wemett into those of George W. 
Fisher and Charles E. Upton, both of Roches- 
ter. Not having the same views in regard to 
what improvements to place thereon, and Up- 
ton's late entanglement in Bank matters and 
failure to fulfill his part of the contract with 
Fisher, give to the place a truly desolate appear- 
ance, where the "thistle shakes its lonely head," 
and the "wild fox digs hi- hole unscared." The 
only cheering ray to be noticed here is a little 
to the southward, the fondly intertwining em- 
brace of those two brotherly elms. 



78 GUIDE. 

Sylvan Retreat. 

Here on "Long Point" in 1378 George W. 
Morehouse, of Way land purchased and built, es- 
pecially for his invalid wife, the present tastily 
arranged cottage. She spent a portion of that 
season here, but that fell disease consumption 
had so strong a hold on her delicate constitution 
that Death closed her earthly existence soon after 
her return to Way land. The next winter Wes- 
ley Doughty now of Springwater became the 
purchaser, and one year after, his wife, in whose 
hands it now remains. 

Camp Grounds. 

A short distance up this point is where the 
"Stantonites" held a Camp Meeting which lasted 
some two weeks in the summer of 1878, and 
had an overflowing attendance especially on the 
Sabbath. Before we reach the next Cottage we 
pass where Isaac S. Borden had a shanty, where 



gvide. 79 

lie stayed while putting through the lake road 
in '26 and % 

Hendershottfs. 

In 1878 John D. Hendershott of Springwater 
purchased the building in which Rufus Grover 
lived one season on the Reynolds farm near the 
Butternut tree on the Valley road, and moved 
it to the next place we come to. After cover- 
ing it over anew and adding the kitchen, a very 
comfortable home for summer resort was made, 
and each season other families besides John's oc- 
cupy the cottage as renters. 

Cooper & Snyder's. 

Next on the list is the cottage of H. K. Cooper, 
late of Washington but now of Springwater, and 
A. Snyder of the latter place. This was built 
in 1881. Though rather too near the water for 
pleasant surroundings to most people, yet the well 
kept grounds, the fine looking structure, and so 
well built and nicely arranged throughout, it 



80 GUIDE. 

leaves a very good impression in the eye oi the 
tourist. 

Sheep-pen Point. 

This point, which is a pretty one, derives its 
name from the fact that for a very long period 
of years the farmers of Ball Hill had a pen here, 
and where they annually came to wash their 
sheep. It is now owned by the brothers, Robert 
H., an Att'y at Law, and Major Henry A. Wiley, 
both of Spring water. When N. A. Kellogg 
erected his present Cottage he disposed of his 
former one to these brothers, and in the winter 
of 188 1-2 it was taken here on the ice. They 
have otherwise built and have now a cozy sum- 
mer home. These bachelor brothers spend 
hours very pleasantly here when other duties 
will permit them so to do. 

Ingleside. 

Professor John J. Morris built the next in 
the season of 1881. The Prof, is here only 



GUIDE. 81 

during vacations, and for a bachelor, entertains 
a very social, agreeable family of young ladies 
and gentlemen of the literary class at such times, 
besides very many other acquaintances. 

Hunter's. 

The Rev. William Hunter, long a Presby- 
terian Clergyman of Spring water purchased the 
next point and erected the red building on the 
north end, and after cleaning off and improving 
considerably, sold the south end thereof to Geo. 
Higgins, of Springwater, and he in 1880 
erected 

Ashland. 

Whether this cottage received its name be- 
cause a few white ash trees stand around it, or 
from the old home of Henry Clay, we cannot 
tell. George and his better half put in some 
spare time here each year. 



82 GUIDE. 

Curtice Point. 

This is quite an extensive projection of land, 
and has long been known as "Curtice Point.'" 
Perez H. Curtice a mill-wright by trade, but 
who loved fishing more than any other employ- 
ment, moved an unoccupied, small framed build- 
ing from Hemlock Lake Village, on the ice 
in the winter of 1840-1 to this place. Here he 
lived alone, working occasionally a few days at 
a time at' his trade, until 1849, when he went to 
William Mackie's in Livonia to live. In the 
year 1864 during harvest time, he started at 
noon to go to Slab City and not returning, search 
was made but he was not found until in a fair 
state of decomposition, in the field near the west 
line of the Jacques farm. 

His habitation on this point was torn down 
and portions of it were afterwards used by boys 
as a raft. 

Withington's. 

On this point Albert M. Withington, then 



GUIDE. 83 

Depot agent at Springwater, bought and built 
the north structure, a very much better one than 
any cottage away from the foot of the lake at 
that time. This was in the summer of 1876, 
and at the time when the excitement had fairly 
commenced at the south end of the lake. 

Sunnyside. 

Withington sold a portion of his purchase in 
1878, to the Grovers and Morris of the same 
place, and they, foreseeing the future of this 
body of water, put up the same season what 
was then considered an extreme in summer re- 
sorts, by far the best building in its vicinity. 
Its name is suggested by the unobstructed view 
from its sunny side, or from, perchance, Irving's 
pleasant home on the Hudson. 

Hazel Dell. 

The same year, on the extreme south end of 
Withington 7 s purchase, Geo. E. Withington 
now Agent at Springwater D^pot, and A. M. 



84 GUIDE. 

Brown of Rochester, completed the cottage in 
the cove above, and christened it Hazel Dell. 

Hermitage. 

The next one we hail seems to be an old vet- 
eran on these shores, which in fact it is. 

The first brush cut on this lake south of the 
Half Way House on the eastern shore, was 
where this cottage now stands. On Saturday 
May 29th, 1875, D. B. Waite took possession 
of this point and opened a road through as i an- 
gled a mass as ever grew, and on Monday the 
olst, the sills were on the ground. The frame 
was raised the 11th, of June, and when fully 
enclosed, received the name of the Hermit- 
age. The first landing built south of the center 
of the lake was built here July 26th, where the 
Seth Green landed a few days afterwards. All 
the business for the south end of the lake was 
done here for three consecutive seasons. 

Picnics have been of frequent occurrence here 
from the first co the present, in fact, were the 
only free picnic grounds on the lake. 



GUIDE, 85 

The kitchen on the north was added tn 1878. 
In 1848, Ebenezer Goodrich cleared this point 
for Perez II. Curtice who had a lease of it from 
Rufus Garey, and it was cultivated nine years. 
The timber has all grown since that time. 

Rudder Grange. 

The sound of the ax had hut died away in a 
measure at the Hermitage \\ hen a peculiar look- 
ing craft was seen floating northward on tie 
still bosom of the lake, and landed on Kellogg's 
point. The old boat house near the head had 
been demolished, and the debris soon assumed a 
co^y appeal arce, and after many remodellings 
took the name of Rudder (J range. This was in 
pioneer times and but a few days after Waite 
commenced on his grounds. 

No one on the lake has enjoyed himself bet- 
ter, wearing away the rough points in nature 
than has Nathan A. Kellogg, and his present 
commodious and tasty cottage erected in 1880, 
bespeaks a man that aims to enjoy all this silvery 
gem of waters has in store for him. 



86 GUIDE. 

Boone's. 

The year following, Henry W. Garnsey, then 
a Hardware merchant at Wayland, put the main 
building on the next point. It was soon after- 
wards deeded to his wife and her sister, Mrs. 
Stewart. In 1881 the addition was made, and 
in 1882, the property by purchase passed into 
the hands of Dr. Boone of Springwater. 

Todd's. 

In 1878, Mrs. Garnsey and Mrs. Stewart 
sold that portion of their land on the south end 
and lying in the cove to Todd of Spencerport, 
and he soon after erected the present small but 
agreeably arranged cottage. 

Bethesda. 

On the next point is a fountain, where the 
water is brought in a pipe from a spring on the 
side of the hill some twenty -five rods distant. 
It is very strongly impregnated with iron, and 



GUIDE. 87 

a careful analysis may disclose some chemicals 
held in solution that may be of vast benefit to 
us ailing mortals. 

Edgewood. 

Mrs. Thompson, wife of Furman Thompson 
of Spring water, is the proprietor of the next im- 
provements. The cottage has received the name 
of Edgewood. This was built in 1879, and 
each season finds it pretty well appropriated to 
the uses intended. 

Robinson's 

Judge Stephen Robinson became the owner 
in the next, and put up the present b lilding in 
1877, and while his partner in life was able to 
eajay a summer rest here, the aged, happy twain, 
accompanied by children an 1 grand-children 
spent many a pleasant day in and around their 
humble cot. Since her decease the Judge passes 
but a few days here each season. 



8S guide. 

Swarts 7 . 

John Swarts, of Dansville, purchased of Judge 
Hobinson in '79, a portion irom the south end 
of his premises and placed a cottage thereon 
the same year. 

Port House. 

D. P. Alger of Springwater, the next in order 
of location, erected the small building now at- 
tached to the north side of the main structure 
in 1876. In the fall of 1877, he commenced, 
and in the following spring finished the present 
boarding house, which soon after completion 
was named the Port House. It was first open- 
ed to the public on June 12th, ~1878. The 
grounds on which it stands, though rather ro- 
mantic, are not very pleasant or inviting for 
parties, picnics and gatherings that love to re- 
cline where 

"Some shady bower their couch could be, 
Or rustling oak their canopy." 

The buildings are well arranged for summer 



GUIDE. 89 

visitors, and though cheaply built like many of 
the cottages along the lake, yet they are com- 
modious and comfortable enough for all who 
may wish to spend a few aays or weeks here. 

The Steam Boats all run regularly to this 
place, and it is practically the head of the lake, 
though a short distance farther south stands the 
spacious farm house of 

Wm. Johnson. 

This was erected in 1881, a little north and 
west of where Elijah Goodrich in 1828, put up 
a log cabin in which he resided many years, and 
after he left, it was occupied by Tucker, Gordon 
and others. At this point a landing was built 
for the Seth Green, in '75, but it, was ephemeral 
in its existence. 

Down the Lake. 

We now cross the lake and commence our re- 
turn, and in doing so we first pass near the place 
where young Willis was drowned in 1880, just 



90 GUtDK. 

south of the humble shelter where the late Dr. 
Norton froni 1877 until his death, used to spend 
many a happy hour dicing the warmer portions 
of the year. His messmate, H. T. Grover, still 
continues to spend considerable time hereabouts, 
and is one of the few who follow the gentle art, 
that invariably have good luck. Harvey is en- 
dowed with a mighty taking way, especially 
when he goes a-fishing. 

Jenkins'. 

The building in the cove we next pass was built 
laat fall by John Jenkins, in which to live while 
lumbering, and the next, is where Harvey Hum- 
phrey from Webster's Crossing, in 1881 commenc- 
ed to build, but left just enough relics to bring 
from the passer-by the thought, "who has been 
here?" Humphrey's relics and the devastations of 
fire below leave a deadening feeling as we pass. 

AtwelFs. 

Geo. Atwell of Lima, who also had a cottage 



or ide. 1 

at the foot, built a 12 x 12 cottage here in 1878 
solely for the purpose of sheltering him during 
his trout-fishing excursions up the lake, for it is 
well known that trout are more plenty here than 
towards the foot. 

Dorr's. 

The people of Dansville are of late choosing 
building places nearer the head than the}' did a 
few years ago. The next cottage, with its cool, 
spacious verandas, was erected last year by the 
Dorr brothers from the aforesaid place. 

CoggswelFs. 

The fancifully-trimmed cottage we are next 
to pass, belongs to William Coggswell, and took 
a place on this lake last year. 

If hemlock will lower the temperature of 
summer heat, then his southern grove must give 
him ease and comfort. 

Before we arrive at fclie next cottage, we pass 
building sites, soon to be converted into pleasant 



92 GUIDK. 



resting places, and a patch of alders or a 
gnarled oak, may suggest names for the new e- 
rections. 

Parsonage. 

It is extremely rare that we find so devoted 
a lover of Nature as the Rev. George K. Ward, 
of Dansville. For the last eighteen years, he 
Las been ja frequenter in these parts, and was 
one of the original proprietors of the old Parson - 
age, and a partner in the cottage, erected by the 
Wards last season, and now is busily engaged in 
the erection of this one, which will be completed 
early in the season. At his toach the wilderness 
is quickly converted into a pleasing home. 

Idle Hour. 

During the last season, the Rev. G. K. Ward, 
of Dansville, Frank A, Ward, of Rochester, and 
Wm. S. Ward, of Leadville, Colorado, united, 
and the next summer home was the result. 

The sturdy elm on the south with one huge 



GriDE. f><> 

arm twisted off, or that decaying parent oak in 
the cove below, leaning hopefully on its strong- 
er brother, might have suggested a very appro- 
priate name, but the one selected is very good. 

Faulkner's. 

In '81 the Faulkners of Dansville, who annu- 
ally seek the shores of some wild wood lake, or 
resort at the north, or the balmy air of Florida, 
pat thought and some means into as pleasant and 
home-like a resort as any on the lake - in fact 
we can but call its style "symmetrical and intrin- 
sically beautiful." On the north edge of this 
point the Barnharts had a cabin, in which they 
lived while getting lumber for the Rochester 
Water Company in 1875. 

Onehda Cottage. 

W. H. Pierce of Springwater, H. E. Board- 
man and Dr. Rsqua bath of Rochester, in the 
year 1874, erected the first place for resort on 
this lake south of the "Maloy or Tittle Point." 



04 GUIDE. 

As the building was constructed wholly of 
hemlock, the name Onehda, was decidedly a 
very appropriate one. 

In a state of nature, before fishing campers 
were plenty on the shores ol this lake, one of 
the largest of grape vines overran the timber 
o;i the outer projection of this point, and from 
that circumstance it received, and has long been 
called u Grape-vine Point." Since Pierce be- 
came sole proprietor, he has taken off the timber 
and set the whole with fruit trees, and is begin- 
ning to enjoy the pleasure of having freshly -pick- 
ed fruit for his otherwise well-furnished table. 



Wigw 



am. 



J. M. Edwards of Dansville, in 1879, chose 
his wigwam on the next building place. 

On the south lies "Sassafras Bay," and from a 
huge cement tube on the shore of said bay, you 
can regale your olfactories, if you desire thusly 
to do, and enjoy his cooling, hemlock shade. 
We pass a fine building spot, and, northward 

"in sequestered cove 
The wild duck's oiled his breast, and dove." 



GUIDE. 03 

Tansrlewood. 



CD 



This is the original Parsonage, and was built 
by G. K. Ward, J. J. Bailey, F. Fielder, M. A. 
Stearns, J. P. McCurdy, E. M. Parmelec, H. F. 
Dyer, J. M. Edwards, J. F. Williams, H. J. 
Faulkner, 8. Nl Hedges, H. W. Belong and G. 
Sweet, in 1877. In r 79,W 7 ard, Fielder and Stearns 
Wt out their partners; in 7 81, Ward sold to his 
partners, and Fielder, in 7 82, disposed of his in- 
terest to Stearns, who is so^ owner at present. 

A little in the back-ground, u Crazy" Walker 
commenced to build a home, away from the busy 
scenes of civilization, in 1862 ; the cellar remain- 
ed till lately disturbed, though somewhat dilap- 
idated. 

Idle Wood. 

George W. Fisher of Rochester, in 1875 com- 
menced here to build, and almost each year he 
has added somewhat, either to his buildings or 
to the improvement of his grounds. The propri- 
etor is decidedly a man of fine taste, and has 



0(5 GUIDE. 

shown it in numerous instances on his premises. 

It seems somebody was happy here in the 
year 1872, for on twin basswoods in the fore- 
ground you will find in large letters, "Camp Hap- 
py, 1872, Geneseo, N. Y." 

As you pass southwardly on this point, you 
reach Glen Bridge, leading across a miniature 
run to the grove ; to the west are Glen Hill, 
Glen Avenue, and other appropriate appella- 
tions as you ascend the zigzag walk up the hill. 

McDonald's. 

Lawyer McDonald, from Eochester, owns the 
next cottage. It was numbered with the west 
side improvements of this lake, in the season of 
1882, and just below, we pass the Cave Banks, 
where John Martin Jr. was drowned, in 1842. 

Rockaway Beach. 

Here on the old "Tim Bailey Point' 1 stands 
five summer rests. We will take them in order 
northwardly. Maple Hill, belonging to Mollie 



Tefft, of Rochester; Cedar Cottage, owned by 
(teorge Reynolds, of the same place; Pdle Ha- 
ven, the property of A. C. Colman, Washington? 
D. C. , all built in '79, and Glen Iris, belonging 
to Mrs. Robinson, of Rochester, and Sumac 
Lodge, owned by the Dyer brothers, of Dans- 
ville. These two were built in '78. When well 
populated, as these cottages are ofttimes, they 
form quite a lively, little hamlet. The Charter 
Oak in the foreground, reminds one but very lit- 
tle of the genuine, old oak at Hartford. 

McQuaid's. 

We next pass the boat house, from which 
starts the ang'ing road up this miniature mount- 
ain, to the country home of Bishop MeQuaid, 
and a little distance on, thiough the pleasing, 
cooling shade of pine and hemlock, northwardly, 
we find J. C. O' Brien's. He is a Rochesterian, 
and much esteemed as the legal counsellor for 
the Bishop. 



OK riTTDE. 

Maloy's Point. 

This is by far the largest cape or point on this 
lake: 

" Outstretching far into the mere, 
An emerald set in crystal clear. " 
A cabin, in which Hermit Maloy passed a few 
years, was built here in the year 1800, or one 
year later. Previous to the former date, he pass- 
ed awhile on what is now called Cook's Point, 
on Canandaigua lake; from thence he came to 
the Honeoye and settled beneath Maloy's Bluff, 
and from thence to this place, as before stated. 

Daniels, Tittle, Farr, Jenkins and Mitchell have 
each made his home here; but as Samuel Tittle 
resided here longer than any of the others, it 
often er receives his name than theirs. Ruel Blake 
was owner of the land for many years, and hence 
his name is often attached to it; but we see no 
good reason why it should ndt, by universal con- 
sent, have that old, veteran hunter Maloy's name 
restored to it. 

A few years ago Bradner J. Blake had a sum- 
mer cottage on the north end or prolongation of 



GUIDE. 99 

this point ; but it was moved across tie lake, and 
we have already noticed it. 

Twin Cottage. 

The twins belong to Tom L. Karl, the cele- 
brated musician, and D. M. Dewey Jr. of Roch- 
ester. They were erected in '79, and they indi- 
cate unity and brotherly love. 

Pic Nic Point. 

We find here a pleasant trio, belonging, in 
order, to Mrs. Ex-Senator Emerson, Martin and 
Cline, and C. Myers, all of Rochester. The first 
was built in '79, the second in '77 and the last 
in 1880. 

Echo Rock Cottage. 

L. A. Pratt, of Rochester, has selected a noble 
site, and erected an imposing home on the elev*v- 
tion west of Echo Rock. This was built in '81. 

Echo Rock is an ancient boulder, a waif from 



100 GV1DE. 

some old glacier, about which, many a fabulous 
story is told, famed in the legends of the Senecas. 

Many a war-whoop has here, no doubt, been 
sounded, and many an answer has been echoed 
back by a departed brother in the Spirit Land. 

Lonp* years after their departure, a few lone 
chieftains would annually resort to this sacred rel- 
ic, to renew sweet communication with the loved 
and lost ; and ever when we have visited it, even 
in the stillness of twilight, we have fancied that 

"lake and hill 
Are busy w T ith their echoes still." 

Hoppough's. 

H. P. Hoppough of Livonia, and Hoppough 
arid Short, own the next two cottages. The for- 
mer was placed here in 1879, the latter in 1880. 

Vesper Cliff. 

Richard Blake of Livonia, in about '74 built 
the next, and Prof. Barnes of Rochester, in '80, 
the following cottage. Barnes has since sold his 



or ide. 10 L 

to Close and Reynolds, and their cottage hears 
the name Ghestaut Grove. 

NivergalTs. 

Frtsd. Nivergall bought of Jacques in '68, quite 
a piece of land along the shore of the lake, and 
soon after put up the house in which he has 
since resided. 

Weaver, Barnes &c. 

C. S. Weaver of Rochester, in '79, and Editor 
Barnes of the Steuben Courier, in '77, built on 
different sides of the gully, and Prof. Cook of 
New York, in '79, a little lower down on the 
lake; Mrs. Dixon of N. J., the Hexagon in '73, 
and Mrs. Parmelee of Livonia, the Wren's ]S r est 
in '79. 

Lake Shore House. 

Here Case and Smith in 1873, erected the 
south portion, and the increasing throngs of 



102 GUIDE. 

visitors demanding more room, the next season 
the north building was added, called when built, 
the Dancing Hall. There has been more busi- 
ness done here some seasons than at any other 
house on the lake. It is very well arranged and 
will accommodate a goodly number of boarders. 

Below. 

From here towards the foot, we pass the cot- 
tages of Ex-Mayor Farland, built in '72; Ken- 
dall, in '71 ; Chambers and Martin, in '71 ; Case 
and Huntingdon, in '76, and Atwell ( sold to 
Kendall in '81 ) built in '70. Then we come to 
Greenwood Avenue, and a short distance in the 
background, the cottages of Ashley of the Clin- 
ton House, Rochester, and James Peck of Lima, 
similar in construction, erected in '80; Lake 
View, belonging to Geo. Baker of Dansville, and 
the Johnson cottage, both erected in '81, and then 
the long, and widely known home-like farm-house 
and most noted rural retreat upon the shores of 
this lake, the 



or ide. 1 OB 

Jacques House. 

In years long gone by, John Hanna was an 
humble dweller where now stands the Jacques 
House. When he sold in 182-i to Darius Jacques 
father to the present ow r ntr, little did he dream 
that the few fisheimen that then occasional- 
ly called at his cabin, would ever make way for 
the numerous throngs of visitors that now pass 
the summer months at this pleasant, quiet home. 

Kussel R. in 1851, built, for his own conven- 
ience, a comfortable farm-house, not expecting 
at that day, any visitors, save now and then, a 
fisherman ; but in August, 186 I, a Mr. and Mrs. 
Merryman and two children of New York city, 
but w r ho came directly from the Dansville Water 
Cure, called to make it their home for a while. 

A short time afterwards, a Wheeler family, 
from the same place, took up a residence here 
until the next October. The year following, they 
came again, friends accompanied them, and from 
that time to the present, business has increased. 

In after years, this Mrs. Merryman became 
the wife of the noted Pere Hyacinthe. . 



104 GUIDE. 

In 1872 or 3, he enlarged the buildings till 
the upright, 36 x 42, stands three stories in higlit 
and a two-storied wing 80 feet in length, with 
very pleasant rooms; long, rambling piazzas, and 
cool, shady, cheerful surroundings. 

Seventy -five to one hundred visitors can be 
comfortably cared for at a time. After the house 
was enlarged, Alfred Kendall, a brother-in-law 
to Russel, had charge of it seven years, then E. 
R. Thompson, a son-in-law of Kendall, took the 
premises in charge, and it remained so for two 
years, when it again passed back into the hands 
of Jacques and^ Kendall. 

Those wishing to make ' much of a s f ay at this 
lake, will find this as pleasant and as rural a 
home as any on its shores. 

At the Foot. 

In crossing the foot we pass where Daniel or 
Hiram Loomis, upwards of sixty years ago 
lived, and did an extensive business. His house 
was on the west bank of the outlet, and north 
of the road. You also pass Connor's, Kinney's, 



GUIDE. 105 

the Mill House and the Brick, the last of which 
was erected in 7 75-6, and in which resides 
Thomas M. Blossom who has charge of the wa- 
ter supply to the city of Rochester. 

Up the Lake. 

In passing up the east shore, we have Jake 
Jackson, the Still well Cottage (sold to Adam 
Bauter of Lima, in '82); Printice Chesbro, 
built in '74 and we arrive at 

Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

Seven years less then a century ago, Roswell 
Bliss, a descendant of Thomas Bliss who landed 
among i he Plymouth Rockers in 1 035, from &ome 
cause or other, sought a home in the wilderness 
on the shores of this lake. He built a log house 
a short distance south of the present "Lima' 
house, now called Uncle Tom's Cabin, and 
there his two children, Charles and Endy, were 
born, and Roswell died there in the spring of 
1836. On the 21st page, we said that Philip 



106 GUIDE. 

Short was the first near settler to this lake ; but 
since that was printed we learn that Roswell 
preceded him five years, and we here make the 
correction. This place was called "Blissport", 
for a long time, in fact until the property chang- 
ed hands. Our dates, though obtained from 
what we should consider a reliable standpoint, 
are nevertheless very conflicting. Some would 
have Charles Bliss born in 1814 ; the Lima house 
built in 1834 or 5, and sold in 1857. Wm. K 
Bliss says, that his father was married in about 
1820; Lima house was built in 1828, and sold in 
'47 or 8. 

The original purchasers of the building and 
pounds were, G. W. Atwell Sr. , Levi Yorks, 
Harvey J. Wood and Albert Chapman, and they 
were bought for a Sportman's Club House. 

Mr. Wood afterward bought more land, and 
set out grape vines, fruit and ornamental trees. 
Atwell was the first to dispose of his interest, 
and Thomas P. Bishop was the purchaser, then 
Ambrose Hyde b jught out Yorks. Josiah Leach 
put on the kitchen and thus obtained an interest; 
in time Bishop bought out his partners and now 



GUIDE. 107 

remains the sole owner. Of the original owners, 
At well and Yorks are still living. 

The last before we close our tour was built in 
1880 by John Ingoldsby. This has since been 
sold, and now is under the care and supervision of 
the St. James. 



ERRATA. 

In a portion of this edition, make the follow- 
ing corrections : 
Page 10 -train instead of "tain." 
Page 11 -ever after "has," 2nd line. 
Page 46-1799 instead of 1779. 
Page 60 -western for "eastern," 5th line from 
bottom. 
Page 61 - descended instead of "descending." 
Page 72 - John B. Thurston instead of "George", 
and erase the last sentence. 
Page 79- H. K. Cooper instead of "H. K." 
Page 103- after Darius Jacques read father to 
the present owner. 



CONCLUSION. 

We have but to say in conclusion, that we have 
aimed to arrive at facts in the preceding pages; 
in most of instances, memory alone has been our 
best guide, and that quite often proves itself to be 
a very poor source; many letters to those who are 
or should be able to give correct data, still remain 
unanswered, and we know of no better way than 
by publishing the best we have; truth will find 
the light, and all corrections can be properly made. 

Amateur printers have done the work ; but all 
typographical. and other errors found, are noticed 
on page 107, and the most important point, left 
unsaid is, how to get here. The N. Y.. Lake Erie 
and Western R. R. runs almost parallel with it 
on the west of Marrowback hill, and the two Sta- 
tions, Springwater at the head, and Livonia at the 
foot, will be the best places to stop off. The for- 
mer is some four, and the latter, five miles distant 
herefrom, and conveyances usually run regularly 
during the summer season, from either point to 
the lake, on the arrival of all passenger trains. 



HEMLOCK LAKE. 

CONTRIBUTED BY W. N. 

Beautiful, lovely Hemlock lake. 
Grant me tiie liberty I take- 
Once more I come, here to abide 
Awhile by thee, and at thy side 
Will wait the coming of the morn,- 
The rising sun the hills adorn- 
To pass the day in sober thought, 
And view the works by nature wrought. 
In shade and sunshine I will bask, 
And of thee a few questions ask; 
Who first upon thy shores did tread? 
Was he a White man or a Bed? 
Was he youthful, or was he old? 
Was he fearful, or was he bold? 
Did he come from an ice-bound coast 
Alone, or with a nunrrous host, 
With sword in hand, bearing a shield 
Fresh from a gory battle-field? 
Or, was he a lone one cast away, 
Wand'ring from morn till close of day 
To find some food to strengthen life 
Till his return to child and wife, 



110 Hemlock Lake. 

From whom at early morn he strayed, 
To fill the promise he had made 
To her, the choice of early youth 
Who knew he spake the sacred truth; 
Tha f he for her would ever care, 
The heaviest of life's burdens bear. 

If such he was, who first did tread 
Along thy shores? Where rests his head 
Or hers, for whom he hunted o'er 
These hills and 'long thy beauteous shore? 
Rest they together side by side 
Here, close by thee, or where the tide 
Beats the shore of some briny sea? 
If this you know pray tell it me. 

Tell it me by some little wave, 
Where rest the maiden and the brave 
Lie^e-like lord, and an only child, 
Their only joy when in the wild 
Wild woods, or along thy shore, 
Where they '11 ne'er be seen or heard of more. 

Yes, by some little, silent wave 
Pray tell it me; I much do crave 
To know, who first thy shore did tread, 
And now where rest those silent dead. 

I'll sit alone on thy wavy shore, 
And ne'er again will ask thee more; 



Hemlock Lake. 1 1 I 

I'll sit and sing a merry song 
Till that little wave'll come along 
Bearing on it a " bubble bright". 
Transparent as the purest light 
That ever shone on land or sea, 
On heathen slave or on the free. 

If on the shore it doth alight 
In all its dazzling beauty bright, 
Whilst other waves do come and go, 
And zephyrs pass it to and fro, 
Yet still the little bubble stands 
Firm and bright on little sands, 
Sufficient this will be to me 
They rest "long side" and by the sea. - 

No more I'll question thee old lake; 
In silence, leave of thee I'll take; 
On shore I'll view thy placid face, 
On which there looked a former race ■ 
Who basked along thy beauteous shore, 
A lonsr, lon^ time, ere this, before 
A white man either old or young 
Had joyous been or e'er had sung 
Along thy lovely, sandy shore, 
"Or sank in thee to rise no more." 

I long to come and visit more 
With friends and neighbors on thy shore, 



1 1 2 Hemlock Lake. 

And with me bring my hook and line 
Ere I shall leave the u shores of time." 
Should I ne'er come to thee again, 
In mein'ry thou wilt long remain. 

As long as life remains in me, 
I'll ever love to come and see 
Thy waves that roll before the breeze, 
That "bends the oak" and all the trees 
That line the beauteous, lovely shore, 
And echo back the midnight roar; 
And fog is seen for miles away, 
Adown thy shores; it seems to play 
Along the hills; it meets my eyes 
In clouds next seen, far in the skies. 

The sun hath climbed the eastern hill, 
The birds are singing lone and shrill; 
Their notes are heard in distant wcod 
Each hunting for his daily food. 

I'll close my musings on thy shore, 
And hope to see thee often, more. 
It will to me give great delight, 
Of thee, loved lake, again to write. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 107 676 9 



